Court: Construction co. not responsible for poor road condition

The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled an Upper Peninsula mining company is not legally responsible for maintaining an intersection heavily traveled by its trucks – or for the critical injuries suffered by a bicyclist who lost her balance at the rough juncture.

Debra McCue was tossed from her bike while riding in the DALMAC bicycle tour along the southern edge of the Upper Peninsula. She hit a rough patch at an intersection with a private gravel road owned by the ON Minerals Company. The intersection is frequently used by the company’s trucks and bulldozers. The Supreme Court earlier dismissed the family’s lawsuit against the state Department of Transportation because McCue had signed a waiver.

The Supreme Court’s Republican majority says the private company had no duty to maintain the intersection, even if it was responsible for wearing it down to the point where steel support beams were exposed. The court’s Democrats dissented. Justice Michael Cavanagh wrote that, at the very least, the mining company should have informed the state about the condition of the intersection.